I grew up in England but moved to the US as a young adult and have since become a US citizen, married, and raised my children here. I'm heartened to see so many posts praising aspects of American life instead of the usual anti-American rhetoric you usually see here.
Obviously the US isn't perfect and there are things that are better about life in the UK, but some statements are just ridiculous. You can't get good cheese here? What? First of all, some of the best cheese in the world is made in Vermont and Wisconsin, but even if you don't want American cheese, we are easily able to buy cheese from other countries. This is just one example of the ignorance shown by some posters.
My perspective on some of the issues that have been raised:
Groceries in supermarkets are much more expensive here than in the UK, whereas eating out tends to be cheaper, even with tips. I think that's one reason why we tend to eat out a lot more regularly than in the UK. We do have crappy fast food here, but last time I was in London every other store seemed to be a low quality takeaway establishment. We also have lots of great high quality restaurants here, serving both American food and food from all over the world.
My house is bigger than anything I could afford in the UK. There's just more space here. Of course housing costs vary enormously in different regions.
I am fortunate to have good quality health insurance. I do have to pay a nominal amount when I see a doctor and for some medications, but preventative care is free. Speaking of which, annual primary care, dermatological, and gynecologic check ups are accepted as standard, as well as annual mammograms and regular colonoscopies once you're a little older. I can arrange to see any specialist without first having to go through my primary care clinician, and usually very quickly. If my annual out of pocket costs get too high (I think it's $5,000) the rest is covered completely, so I know that however sick I am, my costs will be limited. When I gave birth to my children - which was a while ago; they are now young adults - I paid $10 for my first appointment with my obstetrician. The rest of my pregnancy care, delivery, and hospital stay was covered by that $10 co-pay.
I am white, so although I'm an immigrant I can't really speak to the level of racism in the country, except to say that it's still too high. But among my acquaintances I have never witnessed any overt racism. Everyone I know is accepting of people of all races. In a similar vein I am straight, but I have gay family members, and friends with gay children, and all have been accepted by everyone they know. I have no doubt that there are racist, homophobic Americans, but they are far from the majority. In my pretty nice suburban neighborhood, I live next door to a Black family and across the street from a gay couple and also a mixed race white/Indian-American couple. To my knowledge none of them have experienced any negative interactions from fellow neighbors.
School shootings are of course terrifying for all parents, but thankfully they are relatively rare. I knew when sending my children to school every day they were much more likely to be killed in a traffic accident on the way to school than in a school shooting. Personally I'd be happy if the 2nd amendment didn't exist, but it does, and it doesn't affect my everyday life. I have never seen a gun except when carried by a police officer, and I have lived here over 30 years.
My daughter received a great education in the public (state) school system, with opportunities that I wouldn't expect her to be able to access in the UK. For example, she had harp lessons during the school day, for the whole 7 years of middle and high school (secondary school equivalent). She could have gotten a free ride to one of the top universities in the state with a harp scholarship, but decided to go another direction.
At the moment the worst thing about the country is who is in charge, but that will change and I believe that the US will come out of this period better than ever.